Illuminating device



July 21, 1936. E R 2,048,040

ILLUMINATING DEVICE Original Filed Feb. 16 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l ii-A-July 21, 1936. E. WAGNER ILLUMINATING DEVICE Original Fild Feb. 16, 19542 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 21, 1936 UNITED STATES IIJIUMINATINGDEVICE Erwin Wagner, Chicago, Ill.

Continuation of application Serial No. 711,497,

February 16, 1934. This application -May 13,

1935, Serial No. 21,550

tomatically and wherein suitable illuminating means will produce an evenillumination eflect on the panel and on the letter or character meansappearing in silhouette thereupon. Other objects of my invention willappear from time to time throughout the specification and claims whichare to follow.

Generally, my invention comprises an opaque, normally weather-proof boxhaving a translucent 20 or opalescent front or display panel of glass orother similar material. In front of this panel is provided supporting orcarrier means upon which letters or characters may be mounted removablyor permanently and in substantially locked position relative to thepanel.

It is understood that the terms letters and characters are meant tocomprise any designation, figure, character and/or sign that may be usedfor display, either singly or in conjunction so with others, ofsimilaror of different structure. The carrier means for these letters orcharacters, are preferably arranged in front of the panel so that if itis desired to make changes in the sign or message, that may be donewithout chan ing-the relationship of the parts, e. g., without openingthe device and exposing its contents to the elements.

Extending preferably longitudinally of the device which comprises a boxenclosing various control means and forms a compact unit, and preferablylocated behind a plurality of panels or a plu- I rality of charactersmay be a light source which may be a neon tube, a mercury vapor lighttube 45 or any suitable light source or sourcesarranged to produce asubstantially continuous illuminating eilect relative to the panel.There may be one or more of such light sourcesan'd they may be of thesame or different character and/or 50 color; The light source or sourcesmay also be arranged difierently, e. g., near the sides of the panel andin front thereof, so as to produce a somewhat indirect illuminatingefiect, which arrang'ement is particularly indicated in case it isdesired to employ an opalescent panel adapted to .in my structure. Forinstance, three or four light reflect light thrown upon it rather thanradiate light projected through it.

I have found that if such a light source, in the case of the firstmentioned embodiment, is properly' spaced behind the opaque characters,the i1- luminating efiect will be uniform on each character or eachfigure, with no suggestion of the light. source producing this effect.The same is true in case of an indirect light source in connection withan opalescent panel or the like.

By manipulation of the light source or sources and by the use ofdifferent colors which may be turned on or off and by the blending ofthe colors of the opalescent characters itself and the colors of thelight source or sources and/or of the panel or panels, a great varietyof color schemes may be obtained. One of the great disadvantages of theconventional type of luminous sign employing usually a plurality ofseparate light bulbs in back of each character is that if one or more ofthe bulbs should go out, then one character is difierently illuminatedeither in color or intensity or both, thus resulting in an exceedinglyunsightly appearance. This disadvantage may be-avoided sources, e. g.,neon tubes may be associated with a plurality of characters in my sign,and if one of the light sources fails to function, the change of theillumination of each character will be uniform and while the sign underthose circumstances will appear somewhat changed or different, it willnot give an unsightly effect.

My invention is illustrated more or' less diagrammatically in theaccompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1- is a front elevation of oneembodiment of a sign made according to my invention with parts cut awayto show the interior thereof;

Figure 2 is a horizontal section through Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section on the line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a partial front view of a variant form;

Figure 5 isa section along the line 5-4 of Figure 4';

Figure 6 is a section along the line 6-6 of Figure 4;

Figure 7 is a partial front view similar to Figure 4 of a furtherembodiment; and

Figure}; is a section taken along the line 8-8 of Figure 7.

Like parts are indicated by like reference characters throughout thedrawings.

A is an opaque receptacle. It is closed by a translucent or opalescentremovable panel A of glass or other suitable material. The panel may beremovably mounted in any desired way but preferably in such a way asto-make the device weather-proof. A plurality of panels may be used, ifdesired, either on one or on several sides of the box.

B, B 13 may be light sources'such, e. g.. as

luminous tubes mounted at their ends in the box sources are mounted inbrackets 13 and supplied and extending throughout the length thereof sothat each light source is located behind one or behind a plurality ofthe letters or characters. The latter may be made in this embodimentpreferably of opaque material. These tubes or light placed close to thepanel, in case of a translucent plate, each separate tube even thoughnot visible through the panel, might still be so near to it that thelight source will be at least sensed by the observer. This can beavoided in the embodiment shown by properly spacing the luminous tubesor other light sources at a distance from the rear side of the panel asindicated.

In front of the panel may be provided a plurality of carrier rods orwires C C suitably anchored at their ends, for instance, on the box anddisposed sufliciently in front of the panel so that the supports orspring hooks C C on the characters C may readily pass between thesesupports and the panel. The letters are thus re- 1 movably secured. Thehook C grips preferably the supporting rods with sufilcient force toguard the letters against inadvertent longitudinal displacement whilethe shape of the hook prevents accidental vertical displacement. Inother words, the corresponding character is locked to the supportingmeans. The opaque letters will appear in silhouette against thetranslucent or opalescent background The supporting rods should besufliciently small in orderto avoid inter- F ference with the lettersorcharacters either structurally or functionally.

In the modified form of the invention, the letter or character means maytake the form of channel shaped or flanged elements D, having a flangeon both sides. Each of these flanges may be notched at D D, the notchesbeing inclined or tapered so that the letter will grip the supportingwire owing to the force of its weight pulling the letter down to wedgethewire or carrier rod into the corresponding notch and thereby pre- Iventing any inadvertent movement of the letter with respect to thesupport. The letter or character is thus brought close to the face ofthe panel and will appear to be directly on the opalesin front of .thepanel. It may be desired to dis- .pense with the lower U and to suspendthe upper one on a hook or the like.-

It will be understood, of course, that an important phase of myinvention lies in the use of a substantially uniformly illuminated panelwith letter or character means appearing in silhoutte thereupon. Theappearance will be uniform regardless of outside influences. characterswill always appear in silhouette against the panel even withoutillumination. The sign will thus serve its purpose in daylight as wellas at night. Inadvertentdisplacement of the characters is avoided owingto the locking means I on each character which engages the carrier meansin looking relation thereto.

Changes may be made within the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A luminous display device wherein a plurality of characters eachconsisting of an integral substantially rigid member having a uniformlyfinished substantially unbroken face are removably mounted in front of adisplay panel and appear in substantially clear silhouette thereuponcomprising, means for variably illuminating said panel, relatively thinrod-like carrier means disposed in front of said panel substantiallyparallel thereto and spaced therefrom, marginal supporting flanges oneach of said characters projecting The letters or substantiallycontiguous from the back thereof, and means in said supporting flangesfor locking said characters against displacement perpendicular to saidpanel, said marginal supporting flanges being integral with saidcharacters.

2. In a sign structure of the class described, the combinationcomprising, a panel, means for illuminating said panel, a horizontallydisposed supporting rod extending parallel with and in front of thepanel, substantially rigid integral character means each having asubstantially uniformly finished .unbroken face disposed substantiallyparallel with the panel, a peripheral substantially contiguous flangecarried by said char acter means and extending perpendicular thereto,and notches in said flange for engaging said supporting means in lockingengagement therewith.

3. A sign device of the class described comprising, anopaque box, atranslucent display panel closing the side thereof, a plurality of lightsources, each of them continuous from end to end of the panel andarranged within the box at a pointremote from the panel, a plurality ofcharacters having the visual surface thereof parallel with the panel andflanged about their periphery, and means for holding said characters inposition in front'of the panel including a transverse support carried bythe box and flanges carried by said characters, said flanges beingnotched to engage said support with the rearmost boundaries of theflanges immediately adjacent said panel. a

4. A sign device of the class described comprising, anopaque receptacle,a translucent display panel closing the side thereof, a plurality oflight sourcesarranged within the box remote .from the panel forilluminating said panel, a

plurality of characters having the visual surface thereof parallel withthe panel and flanged about their periphery, and means for holding saidcharacters in position in front of the panel with the rearmostboundaries of the flanges immediately adjacent thereto, said meanscomprising support- .ing rods in front of the panel, the flangesbeingnotched to engage said-rods.

5. An illuminated sign comprising, a display panel, alight source forilluminating said panel, and a character consisting of an integral sub--stantially rigid body of substantial thickness having an unbrokenuniformly finished face, substantially contiguous marginal flangesprojecting peripherally from said face toward the back thereof and beingintegral therewith, and inclined notches in said flanges whereby saidcharacter may be individually and independently mounted in front of saiddisplay panel.

, 6. A sign comprising, in combination, adisplay frame, relatively thinstationary supporting rods disposed in said frame and extendinghorizontally thereto, and character means carried by said rods, each ofsaid character means consisting of an integral substantially rigid bodyof substantial thickness and weight having an unbroken substantiallyuniformly finished face, integral substantially contiguous flangesprojecting from said face uniformly toward the back thereof, and notchesin said flanges for engaging said supporting rods in looking engagementtherewith, whereby each of said character means may be independently andindividually attached to and removed from said supporting rods.

7, The structure defined in claim 6, wherein said notches are inclinedand tapered in the direction of the face of said character so as to locksaid character means on said supporting rods solely by the weightthereof and with the back of said face near said supporting rods.

8. An illuminated sign comprising, in combination, an opaque receptacle,a translucent display panel closing the side thereof, illuminating meansdisposed in said receptacle in back of said panel and spaced therefromwhereby said panel is substantially evenly and uniformly illuminated,rod-like mounting means disposed in front-of said panel substantiallyparallel thereto and sub- 7 stantially uniformly spaced therefrom, andspe cific shaped character means individually and 10 independentlyremovably and exchangeably secured on said mounting means in front ofsaid panel in perpendicular sliding relation relative to said mountingmeans, said character means coinprising, an opaque body having a visualface disposed substantially in parallel with said panel but spacedtherefrom when said character is secured in front thereof, andperipheral substantially contiguous flanges projecting substantiallyuniformly from said face toward the back thereof, the rearmostboundaries of said flanges being disposed immediately adjacent saidPanel when said character means is mounted in front thereof, wherebysaid character means appears in sharp and substantially clearly definedsilhouette outline against said uniformly illuminated panel.

9. The sign structure defined in claim 8, wherein said character meansis secured on'said mounting means in looking engagement therewith.

ERWIN WAGNER.

